A Manhattan jury acquitted Sean 'Diddy' Combs of racketeering and sex-trafficking charges in July 2025 but convicted him on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, and he was sentenced to 50 months in federal prison that October.
The downfall of one of hip-hop's most powerful moguls began in November 2023, when his former girlfriend, singer Cassie Ventura, filed a civil lawsuit accusing Combs of a decade of rape, trafficking, and physical abuse. The suit was settled within 24 hours, but it opened the floodgates: dozens of civil claims followed, and in March 2024 federal agents raided Combs's homes in Los Angeles and Miami. That September, he was arrested in New York on a federal indictment charging racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and Mann Act violations.
The two-month trial, United States v. Combs, ran from May 5 to July 2, 2025, before Judge Arun Subramanian in the Southern District of New York. Prosecutors portrayed Combs as the head of a criminal enterprise that coerced women into drug-fueled, days-long sex sessions he called 'freak offs,' flying male escorts across state lines to participate. Ventura and another former girlfriend, identified in court as Jane, gave graphic testimony describing coercion and violence. The defense argued that everything was consensual adult behavior and that prosecutors had mischaracterized Combs's private life as a crime.
The jury's mixed verdict reflected that tension. It cleared Combs of the most serious charges — racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion — but found him guilty of two counts of transporting individuals for prostitution, a violation of the 1910 Mann Act. On October 3, 2025, Subramanian sentenced Combs to four years and two months in prison, a $500,000 fine, and five years of supervised release. Combs submitted an emotional letter to the judge taking 'full responsibility and accountability for my past wrongs.'
Combs was transferred from Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center to the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix, New Jersey. His time there has generated its own headlines: NBC News reported he enjoyed contraband luxuries including a cellphone, premium liquor, and inmate-provided massages, after which he was reportedly placed in solitary confinement, and in October 2026 he was rushed to a hospital with a head injury. Bureau of Prisons records now list his projected release date as March 2, 2028.
The legal saga is not over. Combs's appeal was heard by a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit on April 9, 2026, with judges questioning whether the sentencing court improperly weighed conduct tied to acquitted charges. Meanwhile, Mike Tyson revealed on SiriusXM's 'Andy Cohen Live' in October 2026 that he had delivered a letter from Combs to the president — an apparent bid for clemency. And a New York court ordered Combs to pay NBCUniversal $477,700 in legal fees after he lost a $100 million defamation suit over the documentary 'Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy.'